Nice job Michael Hicks who was on KBND this week! You can listen to his interview around the new Cell Phone directive here.
To Do
Please remind your ICCL team about our training on 1/6 at Bend High – We will have a number of schools and teachers presenting on SBIG strategies that work.
From Departments
From Dave VanLoo:
Here is a brief resource to help administrators with YouthTruth implementation. YouthTruth goes live on January 5. Contact Dave VanLoo with any questions about YouthTruth surveys.
Here is this week’s Special EDge Student Services Blog. Please pay close attention to the STAS and SIRC process update regarding school psychs.
From Kinsey – Office of Policy and Advocacy:
Community Engagement:
Don’t forget about the chance to win a gift card ($25-$49.99) to places like El Sancho, Spork, downtown shops, and more! Just a little motivation and token of appreciation for getting outside your building/office and into the community we serve.
All you have to do: Join your colleagues for quick tours of local service providers, tag along with your family liaison or FAN advocate on a home visit to check on a student, and continue the school-specific efforts you’re already doing. (Bingo card here)
Thanks to all of you who visited The Giving Plate this fall! (If you missed that round, it’s not too late–reach out to me.) Our next community partner visit is in January, to the Bethlehem Inn. Sign up here to participate.
From Gabe Pagano, Director of Activities and Athletics:
Here is the weekly for Winter Break – December 13th-January 4th, 2026
Calendar
December 20-January 5: Winter Break
January 6: Secondary Admin/ICCL Training – 4:15 – 6:15 BSH Perseverance Hall
January 8: MS ONLY – TAG Admin/ICCL Meeting – 3:30 – 5:00 – Ed Center Board Room
January 20: MS and HS Admin Work Session – 9-11 Summit High School
Where in the World
Congrats to Susie at Caldera for correctly identifying the image as a celebration of Kwanzaa!
Kwanzaa is an annual, week-long celebration of African-American culture held from December 26 to January 1. Created in 1966 by activist Maulana Karenga, it is based on African harvest festival traditions and aims to reaffirm traditional communal values, foster unity, and provide a cultural foundation for people of African descent.
This week, it’s Where in the World? Any admin who correctly identifies this location by Monday morning (after break) will be entered in a drawing for coffee/tea or morning beverage of choice to be delivered by Katie or Stephen. Note: This contest will be limited to MS and HS admin.
SBHC lesson (MVHS and BSHS – skip slide 8). AND send home the SBHC family letter and permission form.
From Departments
Kudos to our HS counseling team!
Jennifer Hauth, Jess Calbreath and Amberlee Solito presented at the Oregon State School Counseling Meeting this week on Bend La Pine’s journey to implementing a Comprehensive School Counseling Program. Please take a look at the slide deck that outlines our implementation journey over the last four years. Also, check out our elementary school counseling video (2 Minutes) that was shared at the Board meeting. For the first time in BLS history, we have an elementary school counselor at every school!
Here are the slides from the HS administrator and counselor Meeting from 12/9. Slide Deck
From Sean Reinhart, Executive Director of Student Services:
25-26 Child Count Data
Please click the link below to look at this year’s child count data, as well as our historical trends. Overall, we are up about 40 students total with IEPs. With the overall decrease in enrollment, that puts the district at 12.5% of students receiving special education services.
As a reminder, December 1 of each school year is the day that we report the total number of students with IEPs in BLS. This is the number that ODE uses to base our funding for the following year. School districts get a “second ADM weight” for each student with and IEP up to 11% of the district population. BLS is currently at 12.5%.
Kudos to our student services team members!
Student Services is introducing a new process we are going to be using to boost morale and include more positivity and celebration in our weekly Special EDge Blog.
We will be starting Campus Kudos, a section of the blog highlighting two schools per week and celebrating ways that the school’s Student Services team has been working to promote inclusion, belonging for students, and working as a team to support each other. We will NOT be celebrating individual staff members in this process but really would like to make the focus be upon the entire team. Everyone deserves to be celebrated because they are doing hard work!
So here is our ask: Please fill out the linked form when you feel you have seen something from your school team that is worthy of celebration, particularly things around inclusion, belonging, and teamwork. This can be a running record, and does not need to be filled out ONLY when it is time in the schedule for a particular school to be celebrated.
As we approach the policy shift that prohibits personal devices effective January, please remind teachers to review the IEPs, 504s, and Individual Health Plans of students in their class, and/or check in with Learning Specialists, to be clear on which students have documented permission to use their personal devices. This info should also be noted in Substitute Folders.
This will help reduce 1) the number of false claims by students saying they have a medical ‘need’ for their phone, and 2) repeated corrections or consequences for students who do need them but who frequently get reprimanded for usage that is actually permissible.
Immigration:
Check that you have the ICE guidance (linked and highlighted in this document) printed and posted near your front-entry/reception window for the staff who greet visitors. This is also a good point to refresh yourself on the procedures expected of you and your team.
If you become aware of immigration activity in the community that has impacted a student or family, please: 1) be extremely mindful of confidentiality, privacy, and professional boundaries—do not share this information unless absolutely necessary, 2) take care of yourself and your emotions so you can take care of others , 3) refer the student or family to appropriate resources (your family liaison, our newcomer counselor specialist George, school counselor, FAN, etc), 4) let me know if you have a need I can support, resource- or policy-wise. Thank you for your calm, compassionate, and steady leadership as these tough things continue impacting our community.
December 16: HS Administrator Work Session 9:00-11:00 @ CHS (come early for breakfast!)
December 17: Optional Early Adopter Drop in @ 8:00
December 17: Admin PD Session – 3:00 @ Aspen Hall (please carpool)
December 18: MS Horizontal 3-5 @ High Desert
December 19: Principal connection @ 7:00
December 20-January 5: Winter Break
What in the World
Congratulations to Darla Brandon at La Pine Middle for correctly identifying our Where in the World image as Hobbiton, the set from the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies that is now a tourist attraction in New Zealand.
This week, it’s What in the World? What celebration does this week’s image below represent? Any admin who correctly identifies this location by Monday morning will be entered in a drawing for coffee/tea or morning beverage of choice to be delivered by Katie or Stephen. Note: This contest will be limited to MS and HS admin.
Carpoolto the admin meeting December 17th at Aspen Hall. The parking is limited so please consider riding together as a team. Additionally, we will be covering chapters 6-8, so please review before the 17th.
Send in Leave Sheets:
Leave sheets are due on Monday, December 8th. The time period we are recording for is 11/10/2025-12/07/2025.
Principals, submit your leave sheets to Katie and Stephen. Send an email if you did not take any leave during this time period.
Assistants, please submit your leave sheets to your principal.
Please ensure you have the Student Health Survey wrapped up by 12/22. We have many sites with no results yet.
Reminders for HS: teach these two lessons before winter break:
SBHC lesson (MVHS and BSHS – skip slide 8). AND send home the SBHC family letter and permission form.
From Departments
From Dave Van Loo:
Here are links to use for documenting OSAS testing opt-outs and exemptions in 2025-26. These forms are like what we have used in the past and are needed for cleaning up data at the end of the school year. Opt-outs apply only to ELA and Math testing; anything else follows ODE’s exemption process.
In addition, principals and VPs can view students added to the opt-out and exemption forms at these links. These links contain data for all schools, but schools can filter their own students to help plan and manage testing.
Let Dave VanLoo or Stephanie Bent know if you have any questions or need other staff added to the response spreadsheets.
From Kinsey – Office of Policy and Advocacy:
Policy Training:
Here is the slide with links to the policies we discussed via scenarios at your recent horizontal meetings. Let me know if you have an issue related to one of these scenarios or policies that you’d like to discuss.
Bias/Complaint Response Template:
As a reminder, most of our complaint policies require that you communicate your investigation findings in writing. This can often be an informal email format (for a bias incident between students, or a straightforward complaint where you’ve been communicating frequently with the parent or employee already), and other times a more formal findings document.
In either case, there are certain points you need to include in that written conclusion of the investigation (ex: your conclusion, how to appeal, etc). Here is a template you can download and use. It’s geared toward bias incidents and a formal format, but you can adapt and use pieces as desired. If this is overwhelming or unhelpful, disregard. I’m always happy to review a draft email or findings document to check it against policy considerations before you send it, if helpful for you!
From Scott and Kayla in Safety:
Thank you all for your attendance and participation at our second cadre meeting!
Here is the link to the Cadre and Student Services slides.
A few pieces of information that were discussed:
Here is the Health & Safety POC Roster- The best place to start when fielding your safety concerns.
Health Services Support During School-Sponsored Activities
Please ensure that parents/guardians of students who require specialized health services (e.g., diabetes management, seizure support, adrenal insufficiency care) are informed that the school nurse must receive at least two weeks’ notice before any school-sponsored activity that occurs outside of regular school hours (such as dances, movie nights, or Robotics events). This advance notice is necessary to arrange appropriate health supports.
For overnight trips, a request should be submitted by the parent/guardian at least four weeks’ in advance of the event to allow sufficient time for planning and coordination.
Parents/guardians can submit a request for health services support here (English/Spanish).
This guideline does not apply to athletic events or classroom field trips, as those requests must be submitted by the coach or teacher using the Request for Direct Care Nursing Services form.
PPE
Our post-COVID PPE supply is running low, and we are currently out of medium-disposable gloves. Prior to COVID, schools were responsible for purchasing their own gloves for general use, and we will be returning to that practice. The remaining PPE items listed below will not be replenished once they are gone.
December 10: Optional Early Adopter Drop in @ 8:00
December 17: Optional Early Adopter Drop in @ 8:00
December 17: Admin PD Session – 3:00 @ Aspen Hall (please carpool)
December 18: MS Horizontal 3-5 @ High Desert
December 20-January 5: Winter Break
Where in the World?
Congratulations to Kelly Beaudry for identifying the image from the secondary blog!
The image was of the Edmund Pettus bridge. The bridge became a symbol of the momentous changes taking place in Alabama, America, and the world during the Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s and 70’s. It was here that voting rights marchers were violently confronted by law enforcement personnel on March 7, 1965. The day became known as Bloody Sunday.
This week, it’s Where in the World? Check out this week’s image below. Any admin who correctly identifies this location by Monday morning will be entered in a drawing for coffee/tea or morning beverage of choice to be delivered by Katie or Stephen. Note: This contest will be limited to MS and HS admin.
